Itchy,
Sorry, I meant to say that Cavender's research was done in 1978, so the decision to allow the bull trout specific status was quite likely made later, in 1980 (?).
The common name, 'Dolly Varden" was originally applied in the late 19th century to char from the McCloud River in northern California; the southernmost population of char on the Pacific coast, wiped out by construction of Shasta Dam in 1947. The popular name spread north as far as Alaska.
Dolly Varden was an engaging female character in Charles Dickens' novel Barnaby Rudge who became something of a cultural phenomenon at the time, with a style of hat, a dance and a line of dress goods named after her. It was probably a perceived similarity between the fish's spots and a polka-dotted dress fabric that led to the name being applied to to the fish.
Itchy,
Sorry, I meant to say that Cavender's research was done in 1978, so the decision to allow the bull trout specific status was quite likely made later, in 1980 (?).
The common name, 'Dolly Varden" was originally applied in the late 19th century to char from the McCloud River in northern California; the southernmost population of char on the Pacific coast, wiped out by construction of Shasta Dam in 1947. The popular name spread north as far as Alaska.
Dolly Varden was an engaging female character in Charles Dickens' novel Barnaby Rudge who became something of a cultural phenomenon at the time, with a style of hat, a dance and a line of dress goods named after her. It was probably a perceived similarity between the fish's spots and a polka-dotted dress fabric that led to the name being applied to to the fish.
Preston, your dates weren't the cause of the confusion- I've run into several articles that stated either 1978 OR 1980 as the date for the separate classification. I find it amusing that with such a confusing issue, even the dates of this conclusion are confused
And to think that I thought the Dolly was named after:
I caught these in northern Maine on my last day of a week long trip. I used a size 12 muddler and 4X with a 5wt sink tip. They are extremely difficult to catch on a fly rod, they are a deep lake dwelling species that can only be caught in late fall and early spring when they come into the shallower water. These are true Blueback Charr which are not to be confused with the Sunapee which is slightly genetically different (fishing for them is not permitted).
Ok, so I just got off the phone with the head of WA fish and game and he has nailed down what many on this board have already stated. The fish in the Sauk and Skagit are Bull Trout. The only true dolly varden that are in the state are in small isolated areas and can not be legally fished for. He simply told me to go to Canada or Alaska if I wanted to get one for sure...... Dangit!
I have a paper here by Taylor, et al. Can.J.Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2001 and they list Quinault, Dungeness, and the S. F. Nooksack as having southern clade Dolly Varden.
But one thing that has always bothered me about this paper. Their phylogenetic tree of Dolly Varden and Bull Trout shows that the southern claude Dolly Varden are closer to bull trout than they are to northern clade Dolly Varden. The authors conclude that this is because of genetic intergression between bulls and southern clade DV. But it's always made me wonder if we have placed an artificial boundary between DV and BT in the wrong place. Why isn't the northern clade one species and the southern clade DV and BT combined as another?
I think the DV/bull trout splitters are more amusing than scientific when referring to the species in WA waters. The damn fish don't take icthyology or read textbooks. You'd think species divergence was supposed to occur in some clean split between two watersheds or something. Same thing happens when trying to differentiate DV from Arctic char in SW Alaska. Apparent "overlap" and interbreeding and confusion should be the expected observation. Overlap, hell there ain't any overlap. They're the same fish, in the same area, just ask them instead of a species splitter.
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Originally Posted by Preston
